Last Week In Twin Peaks Podcasts, Week of August 20th to August 26th

I’m going to need to slim down the column some from here on out, at least until the podcast count goes down. There are about 40 podcasts that come out weekly (I was counting on about 30 when I started this column). The wonderful people whose names you’ll see at the end of some of these reviews have been helping me keep stay steady rather than falling further behind, but I’ve been consistently 20 podcasts behind every week since the end of July. I need to do something to fix that because that’s taxing all on its own, and this is, after all, supposed to be a fun project for the fans. What I sadly need to do is not post a write-up for every show, and here’s how I’m going to do it: If a podcast comes out next week for a Part before Sixteen, I’m not going to write it up (and same for this week with a few exceptions for Part Fourteen). The column will be for the current episode only. There’s no offense meant to any podcasts, and I understand there will be quality fun podcasts missed this way, but I need to do it for sanity purposes or my team and I will never make it through finale week alive (where I’m now expecting over 70 podcasts to be produced). My coverage is not supposed to be an endorsement, more a report of what’s out there, and the good news is my previous columns cover the breadth of podcasts that are known to me so their awareness has been raised and you should have a good guess by now as to whether you’ll like them or not. I’m going to miss seeing the shows in here, and they all have their value, but I’m no DoppelCooper so need wins over want in this case.

Onto the podcasts:

EW’ A Twin Peaks Podcast put out two podcasts this week: one for Part Fifteen, and later this week Damon Lindelof returns to discuss TP, very exciting!!! The opening of Part 15 is a little of a fake out. We get this beautiful, fulfilling, cathartic, happy poetic resolution to Ed and Norma, so Franich and Jensen thought this would continue. Lo and behold, it segues back to a lost highway where we go into a Mr. C x Phillip Jeffries x Woodsmen fever dream. There’s a lot of contextual and artistic development here, but little actual plot revealed. For instance, the wallpaper from Mrs. Chalfont’s picture given to Laura which she eventually enters in FWWM. The face superimposed over the Jumping Man looks like Sarah Palmer. Have these black lodgers entered Sarah Palmer and her home and claimed her? Is it a feast of garmonbozia with all of the tragedy befallen? Is this where they put BOB? The darkness within Sarah could be the spirit of BOB? Could the convenience store be separate from the dutchmen? Perhaps Mr. C conjured the convenience store there as a portal to other realms, and the Woodsman brought him to the dutchmen. Was the courtyard motel the same as where Leland met Teresa Banks? Looks too similar to not be meaningful at least, but what would that mean? The podcasters are very confused about the kettle/device. Is it just something that happened because Bowie is dead, like how Michael Anderson was replaced by a tree? Or has Jeffries intentionally hidden himself away in another dimension for some reason? Is he extending his life somehow? The only real takeaway here is that Mr. C has met Judy, which could mean she is someone or something we’ve already seen. Their theory, and the most popular in general, is Judy is Laura Palmer. But then there’s the Joan Chen letter where she calls Judy Josie’s twin sister. Franich and Jensen recount the rest of the Mr. C sequence in detail, but they mostly just take it in, assuming L/F will tell us what things mean when we they decide to. They love the pacing of the Tarantino gang’s scenes. Minor characters die with no emotion, in and out. Dougy predictions: Electricity comes back on, Janey-E looks at the space where Dougy was and he’s gone. Another, Dougy is there, and goes on some crazy adventure. Another, Dougy is gone, goes through some portal situation, eventually to Twin Peaks to deal with stuff, but Chantal is en route and needs to torture someone, so he has to return through electricity to save Janey-E from torture. They feel Nadine was hard on herself, took too much responsibility, but she’s right, seize the day. Is Ed centering himself to accept the outcome of a bad situation, or is he focusing on willing a more desirable outcome into existence? The trees seem to be doing something in the Stephen/Gersten sequence, is the forest haunted, building toward some kinda Ghostwood reveal? Freddie looks like a Jack Kirby hero in this scene, with great power comes great responsibility. James is aloof and ridiculous here, why would it be ok to tell this guy he wants to hit on his wife? Freddie is now well positioned to protect Naido. Twin Peaks always does death so well, including this farewell to the Log Lady. She and Hawk shared a scene in S1 when she talked to him about Laura and the devil. Perhaps she alludes to the evil in the woods, building toward some showdown in the end. The love the Audrey scenes, but again we stop at the threshold of resolution and progression. The only time we’ve gotten it is with Ed and Norma. Rather, there is a crescendo the show is headed toward, with a major crisis being well represented by Charlyne Yi’s closing sequence. In the show’s second podcast, Franich and Jensen are back for a second time this week, with Damon Lindelof who returns to their podcast for a second time. Previously he did an episode earlier this season half about TP and half about The Leftovers finale. This time it’s all Twin Peaks talk. They traded their Dougy theories, Franich and Jensen recounting those given in the previous podcast. Lindelof wants Dougy to still be there, because he loves the idea of Gordon Cole and company descending upon Las Vegas, which is bound to be exciting. In the 5th/6th hours Lindelof says he understood this Dougy situation wasn’t going anywhere. We had to buy into the Cooper we know and love maybe not coming back whole. Downloading his consciousness into Dougy won’t work, at least not until he meets his actual body, which is currently being used by Mr. C. Lindelof went deep into Part 8, rewatched a few times. He’s otherwise obsessed with Freddie’s superhero myth. Understanding Richard Horne’s behavior a little more after seeing where he may have grown up. He’s not excused, but growing up with Audrey and/or Charlie would explain some. Lindelof thinks everything in the Roadhouse and Audrey is real world, not a dream or something else. DL thinks DL is trolling us with Judy, we’ll never find out, and we’ll never stop obsessing. He got into a little bit of fan behavior that he’s experienced. Sometimes when fans are deeply invested in something that’s out there, like this…rather than criticize what they do not like, they’ll create theories to explain a version of it that they would be happy with. He’s really happy DL/MF didn’t do away with Jeffries and instead doubled down. Audtions…tape dispenser…coffee maker…bicycle with a missing wheel…no it’s a tea pot! Had a tough time explaining this to his wife when she walked in the room to find Kyle talking to a tea pot. Not worth explaining, but her look was profound. How many storylines will ultimately tie up? Separately? Or more within Dougy x Mr. C thread? Lindelof will eat whatever the chef is cooking, he’s thankful and loving for all of it. He talks about fans feeling like they’re owed something from creators for their investment in watching. The only thing Lindelof wants is to know Coop is ok. How’s Annie ending didn’t sit well, and he doesn’t want that again. Franich wants Jerry Horne to be ok, and the premiere’s set ups to be justified. Everyone wants Laura resolution. (Sean Glass)

Bickering Peaks thought Part 15 was a gut-punch of an episode, beautifully shot and are disheartened by Mark Frosts’ characters obvious downturn in fortune given that he now lives in the Fat Trout. They worry that there isn’t a lot of time to wrap things up, but feel that Part 15 did quite a lot of work towards that end. There’s also some consternation that at the moment the Ed, Nadine and Norma’s storylines feel rushed – that there are lots of gaps. It feels a bit like fan service and maybe a little too soapy and perfect. It makes them suspicious. If The Return has done anything to us, it’s made us not expect happiness from Lynch! They see allusions between The Dutchman’s with the Flying Dutchman, the old tale of the phantom ship. They note that the initial area above the convenience store is the same as in Laura’s’ dream in Fire Walk with Me. They briefly discuss the existential nature of the convenience store, where it exists, how you get there, where you can go from it, but wisely move on before their heads explode. Is the Dutchman’s a retirement home for elderly lodge spirits? Does it have cable? They postulate that Jefferies possibly evolved into magic steam that powers the black lodge. I [playfully] think the Bicks may have gone too deep… call for help. They move on to debating on who Judy is. Laura? Naido? Nadine? So many questions. They settle on Laura as the prime suspect with minimal bickering. They dive deep into the Steven and Gersten tree scene and decide that Becky has been killed by Steven, and that Carl is in for an unpleasant sight when he investigates their trailer. They see the Margaret scene as less story-driven and more as a farewell from Catherine Coulson. There is a theory about the roadhouse scenes and yet another prediction that Cooper is coming back soon. You’ve got to be right eventually Bicks! [again, Matt kids] Finally, there is vague fear of the bosomy lady in the credits. (Matt Armitage)

Boob Tube Buddies covered Part Fifteen. One host’s wife was happy she didn’t wait up to see David Bowie “show up” as a teapot instead of the man. The Player Three segment began with Nadine’s denial of her husband’s feelings turned into acceptance, and Norma taking control of her life. “I’m dying” is something we don’t see on TV, and we’re not allowed to feel grief there either, but this hits you there. They talk about alchemy due to Margaret’s log turning gold, and Stephen and Becky are probably useless characters. Hutch and Chantal are definitely Tarantino homages, and the hosts did well talking about Margaret and Catherine Coulson and all the respect she was given here.

Bookhouse Podcast began their coverage of Part Fifteen by going through their success rate of previous predictions which went predictably not well. The hosts loved the emotional roller coaster and payoffs of this Part, and they wouldn’t be surprised if Nadine, Ed and Norma are done in the series. Either Big Ed was listening to what Norma was telling Walter or Ed was TMing, and our hearts were dragged around that whole scene. Why have a door person (bosomy woman) for Jeffries other than needing the backwards talk to explain what kind of place DoppelCooper is still in? Jeffries doesn’t seem to know what DoppelCooper is talking about, and Cooper was probably the one who met Judy, not DoppelCooper. The hosts are done with Stephen and Becky, the Audrey-mentioned Chuck is on his way to intensive care, and Freddy is destined to be in that jail cell near Naido. It seems only Chad sees Drunk. The hosts guess Part Sixteen could be close to Part Eight in style and there’s no Dougie at all. The light going out in the Log Lady’s cabin is the most heartbreaking moment yet of the Return, Carl’s the last of the abducted school children, and they were left cold by the Ruby-in-the-Roadhouse scene. They end by making more predictions.

The Brad Dukes Show covered Part Fifteen with guest Scott Ryan of the Red Room Podcast and Blue Rose Magazine. When the Return touches on Fire Walk With Me, it is magic. The hosts talk about the earlier versions (VHS, DVD etc) of Fire Walk With Me and their problematic transfers. The Return has its storytelling problems, but Scott’s never had more fun experiencing this show. Biggest point of frustration: There is no main story. And Brad doesn’t want Audrey scenes the way they are, please go back to Mr. C please. Scott argues The Return is just like the original incarnation in that it never does what you want. They’re thankful for it but they want it to matter. They’re invested in NO new characters (though they love Janey-E) and Big Ed should’ve had a bigger part. The door in the convenience store leading out into the Jeffries motel location was the door Laura was in in the FWWM picture frame, and Scott wonders if she was guarding that door. Janey-E may have come from Annie, the Frost cameo was great, they’re not invested at all in Stephen, and they ask “who is Dale Cooper when he comes back?” In the next Parts, Laura needs to be involved hopefully by saving and/or recombining Cooper. Per Scott, Leland is probably hanging out in Sarah’s head. They note how reddit users timed the girl crawling in the Roadhouse and CooperDougie crawling toward the socket were sequenced almost identically. The hosts share some amazing Catherine Coulson memories, the Audrey scene killed momentum, and No Stars should’ve played right after the Margaret scene instead so it could’ve been as powerful a Part as Episode 14 was in the original series.

Chopping Wood Inside did a Preview and a Full Look episode for Part Fifteen and also a Preview Episode for Part Sixteen. In The Part Fifteen Preview, the hosts wonder if Sarah Palmer is inhabited by Mother, if Janey-E is manufactured, and Chantal and Hutch MAY kill Cooper in that I am Dead yet I Live kind of way. Diane is on her own but also a pawn who’s stuck in the middle of something she thought was something else. Blue Rose agents seem imbued with something, and something’s even deeper with Albert. The Dutchman could be the Fireman, and the Fireman could also be connected with Margaret’s log? Andy’s movie projector was like the eye of god, and the white/gold pool outside the entrance proves it’s the White Lodge. They think an electrical surge is coming, the “I missed you in New York” Jeffries voice is probably Experiment, and the Palmer house is a hub of some sort for spirits and probably a vortex. Laura Palmer’s role in the community is she’s the answer that will fix the town when she reappears. The hum James found is either a benevolent spirit or unanswered mood, and we see redemptive characters starting to appear. They think Vegas will be wrapped up in Fifteen, and that really you should just take out the power plant if you want to get rid of those guys (meaning the Woodsmen etc). In the Full Look at Part Fifteen, the hosts wonder if Ed meditated his way into his outcome with Norma, and noticed Nadine and her shovel walking under the power lines the whole way to the Gas Farm. They bring up Lynch’s note to the Jumping Man’s actor that the character is a talisman and discuss what it might mean that Sarah Palmer’s face was superimposed on its mask. “Is she the mother to all of them?” The Jeffries location is the same motel with Leland’s cancelled tryst, they wonder if Bob was inside DoppelCooper for this conversation, and think Judy could be Laura or Briggs. Gersten and Stephen are both sparkled out, and the hosts think something bad happened to Becky to start their spiral. Seeing Carl Rodd with a shovel right then means something, and the fork in the socket is the last transition before CooperDougie awakens though he still won’t be a full Cooper. When Audrey throttles Charlie, no orderlies show up…it’s probably not reality they’re in, and the set pieces in that house probably all reference to pieces in her old life. For its Part Sixteen Preview episode, the hosts liken the convenience store to being Bob’s roving Tardis and think Bob will pop out somewhere yet. They wonder if the woodsmen are taking over good portals and corrupting them, and are the woodsmen guarding Jeffries in a prison or is he like Tarzan of the Apes and they’ve adopted him as one of their own? They still think there’s something shady about Albert though it could be he’s working for the White Lodge, and maybe Jeffries is the Dreamer. They don’t think we’ll find out who Billy is, just if Audrey can break through her threshold. They ponder what would happen if the head of Briggs said Judy instead of Blue Rose back in Part Three, and hope that Audrey’s stuck in something supernatural. Connecting to Sunset Boulevard, it’s possible that Audrey is living through Norma Desmond’s story path in that “she’s afraid of the outside world.” They expect Audrey to have a (mysterious) redemption, then move from Sunset Boulevard to Vertigo’s Madelaine and Judy character names thus making a case that Judy is Laura Palmer. They don’t think the electricity will wake up Our Cooper the way we remember him, but he may be an enlightened individual. Everything appears to be converging on Vegas rather than Twin Peaks, and the title of Part Sixteen is discussed, probably about a door leading into a mysterious location. They bring up Ronnie Rocket and wonder if Cooper just charged himself up to get ready for his Twin Peaks journey to meet his shadow self. They don’t think Diane will make it to Twin Peaks, and they talk about their plans to continue on after Twin Peaks finishes airing: they’ll be continuing a long time, and I say we’re the better for it.

On the Damn Fine Podcast, hosts Tom Merrit and Ron Richards were joined by guest Ken Denmead in their coverage of part 15. They began the show by pondering if Cooper could actually make a comeback in part 16 or if Lynch & Frost will withhold this moment even further. Ron notes that Penderecki’s Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima music cue from part 8 is reprised when Mr. C arrives in the convenience store and that the location where he meets Jeffries is the same motel from Fire Walk With Me. The way the convenience store seems to vanish as soon Mr. C and Richard Horne leave makes them discuss the possible space-time implications surrounding this place. While talking about Mr. C taking Richard Horne in a road trip, maybe to Twin Peaks, the hosts and guest try to remember if the numbers given by Jeffries are the same Albert found written down in Ruth Davenport’s arm. They try to make sense of Steven’s breakdown in the woods, and point out that Gersten Hayward’s key necklace is very prominent in the scene. Tom thinks there’s something very off in James’s behavior, specially his failed interaction with Renee. Chantal and Hutch’s affectionate scene strikes them as a rather tender moment between such cold-blooded characters. Dougie making voluntary movements in the dinner table could mean that his mind is coming back to himself, and they think the Sunset Boulevard line that causes that wide-eyed reaction from (“the old team together again”) could be a indication to how his comeback is going to happen. The most emotional moment from part 15 was the farewell to Margaret Lanterman and as the hosts pay their respects to the beloved Log Lady, as they attempt to make connections between her last words to Hawk and some other plot points: is she talking about the orb carrying Lauras’ photo when she says that “her log is turning gold?”; while referring to “the one on blue pine mountain” (which is on the right side of the titular twin peaks) is she saying that maybe Cooper and Mr. C will have a showdown in that area? At the end of the episode they left yet one more question for the listeners: is there anything beyond Audrey’s room? (Maicon Firmiano)

Dark Mood Woods: Part Fifteen. Writer Abbey Bender guested on this week’s episode. She has recently written an article for Racked (fashion website) about how Diane is bringing style back to Twin Peaks. She sees Season 1 and 2 as containing a lot of strong fashion choices (saddle shoes, tartan skirts etc.) but that in The Return Diane is the saving grace in terms of style. She wondered if her recent multicoloured manicure was a sign for the multiplicity of identity. She has been enjoying The Return and is amazed at level of freedom Lynch has, and sees it as probably the most auteurist tv ever. She has had moments of frustration but notes that it is great to be able to just immerse ourselves in Lynch’s vision. In terms of structure, Ethan felt that Episode 15 was the show kicking into 4th act hyperdrive. He noted that the pacing in this episode was a bunch of long sequences (Norma/Ed, Comvenience Store, Steven/Gersten) then moving into a more elliptical structure. Nick suggested it was clear from the very first scene of the series that Cooper’s journey and the Black Lodge outgrowth were linked and that this is starting to all come together. Abbey spoke to the use of colour in the show, noting that there has been a lot of “sickly fuschia” and both Steven and Gersten’s shirts were reminiscene of this. She added that she will not miss Steven. The Norma and Ed scene resonated with all our hosts with Abbey saying it felt like its own little movie given the number of emotional beats in just one scene. Nick felt that the scene was climactic and that because of that we may not see Norma and Ed again. He also noted that this is one of the most joyous things Lynch has ever directed; almost as if the project is breaking away from itself to leave its troubles for a minute. Nick also felt that the opening with Nadine was as if Nadine Hurley had been given her own version of The Straight Story – the layering of shots and crossfades had a dreamy, pastoral tone. He wanted Wendy Robie to have her Richard Farnsworth moment. There was talk about whether James and Freddie were fated to get into the fight so they could be in the holding cells along with Naido. Nick spoke about a theory he had read that James will be the new one-armed man with Freddie as the arm (Wow!). Ethan wondered whether Cooper was actually back. Abbey is ready for Cooper and part of her wants Dougie explained. I don’t really understand what needs to be explained about Dougie so this point was a bit confusing for me. Nick liked the Gordon Cole reference being what possibly will bring Cooper back but commented that this is the first work of art that has used what is “essentially Turner Classic Movies as a Deus ex Machina”. That is is literally a camera planted in front of a tv set is another sign that our real world is finding ways to intrude on the world of Twin Peaks. Abbey found it jarring given the show feels like its own entity so a real world movie existing in this world felt out of place. Regardless of any issues though, Nick felt the moment was wonderfully played by Kyle Maclachlan and Abbey feels Kyle is giving such a great performance that it feels like the roles are being played by two different actors. Nick agreed and noted that the way he uses his chin when he is playing Mr C is completely different. The Margaret scene was for Abbey: one of the best scenes so far. So emotional in an authentic way. Ethan has been feeling a tension in these scenes because of the knowledge that this was her real life condition, but he feels it was done in a way that wasn’t exploitative. Abbey agreed and said it was like watching someone you know die. An intense experience that you don’t ever get on tv. Also, she wants Hawk to be the last person she talks to and Nick feels that Michael Horse as an older man feels dignified and solid. He notes that the Margaret scenes brought to mind the Log Lady intros, a direct address to nobody in particular and yet to everybody. Abbey drew parallels with Lynch’s TM: the acceptance of death, not necessarily negative or scary, and this added more emotional power to it. The team all felt that there were parallels between the new life of Ed and Norma’s relationship and the end of Margaret’s life – that beginning with something so joyous was a sign that something equally emotionally resonant but not joyous was coming. (Yvette Giles)

Diane loved Part 15, thinking it will reward a lot of rewatching. They feel that the Nadine and Ed scene is really important, and may even be the eye of the duck scene. The Ed and Norma scene made them sigh with relief after twenty five years of waiting, and saw us all as Shelley looking on happily. Moving on, Rosie seems content just staring at Lynch shots of cars driving on roads at night, and they delight in the dark desaturated nature of the Mr C at the store scenes. They discuss the theory that the jumping man has Sarah Palmers face superimposed on it (get on that pause button people!), and like the way he is associated with electricity, seeing him as a jagged, spiky demon, like an attack dog. They settle on ‘industrial kettle’ as the correct description for Jefferies’ new visage, or ‘translated into another form’. He’s described as a Black Lodge bigwig, discuss the “I’m a little teapot’ rhyme having camp associations which fits with Bowies gender-bending personality, and run down the potential Judy candidates but are as unsure of the answer as Mr C is. They note the thematic connections with Sunset Boulevard which is showing on the TV when Dougie turns it on. They don’t feel that the dialogue is too important in the Steven/Gersten scene, rather it being about the raw emotion. This may be a good thing as it’s almost inaudible anyway, but having watched it with subtitles later, there is some interesting and quite confusing dialogue going on there. Carl Rodd gets sympathy for being lumbered with all the stuff going on, and gets called the Mole King, which if you want an explanation for you’ll need to listen to the podcast. James gets even more sympathy for seeming so pathetic, in a tragic sense. They see the jail cells as a roster of superheroes now, suggesting that the drooly man (Billy?) could well be an open gateway to dark entities, and that Freddie may need to be there to defend Naido. They describe Margarets final phone call as an incredibly human moment, hailing Catherine Coulsons decision to do this scene as incredibly brave, turning her own death into art, suggesting that she saw real value in the show to want to do it. (Matt Armitage)

Dishin’ The Percolator covered Parts Fourteen and Fifteen in a single podcast and had on their third host Jon. Sean asks Jon some questions before Dallas joins them, the best of which is “At the end of all eighteen Parts, who wins?” The answer is Us, if Cooper is back. Otherwise, no clear winners are expected. They want Cooper to interact with characters he cared about from the original series, and that the pieces like the glass box and the living map line up with each other. Dallas wonders if the Roadhouse scenes are about what we’re supposed to be thinking about and feeling. The hosts love Nadine, enjoyed that after much debate Monica Bellucci was playing herself, and noted we got a genuine answer (“you ARE Cooper”). The noted how Blue Rose began with doubles, welcomed a useful Andy, and miss the Leland wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing dynamic versus what we get with DoppelCooper just being blatantly bad all the time. They thought they might see Leland in room number 8 rather than teapot Jeffries. They’re sure something’s crazy in store for Audrey but they don’t care about guessing what. They ask if Sarah Palmer’s always been like that and figure probably not, and they loved the weird/compelling and silly/ridiculous Freddy origin story. And before all the characters go back to Twin Peaks there has to be a Dick Tremayne fashion show.

Drink Full and Descend made a Prelude to Part Fifteen episode where they talked about nature versus industry, the meta aspects of Twin Peaks including the referencing tropes of popular television, time, multiple dimensions, and some guesses as to who is the dreamer. The “Jeffries” who spoke to DoppelCooper in Part Two could be Experiment, the arm Naido pulled on top of that roof before she went flying could have been a transmission flow, and memory loss seems specifically tied to Jeffries and the Woodsmen. The hosts want to know exactly what happened with Ruth Davenport and Major Briggs, and also where are the Bookhouse Boys? They also bring up the loose threads of the frog/moth girl, Billy, Judy, and the hum in the Great Northern. In their full Part Fifteen coverage, the hosts feel the momentum getting stronger with every new Part. Walter’s like Truck You guy trying to make Norma do what he wants and she’s not having it. “Love is enough” seems to be the message between Nadine, Ed and Norma’s scenes. They describe the convenience store scene as two spacial areas traversed at the same time and note the FWWM motel location’s usage. They guess the convenience store moves around, discuss Dorothy/Judy connections, note there are still a ton of Richard Horne questions on the table, as there are with Stephen. What did Stephen do because he was high? Who is “she”, what is Stephen’s “duty”, and is the jade ring ground up into drug-esque format in sparkle? They wonder if Becky’s in another place and Stephen is trying to get there, and think this has to be sparkle-related. The Sharp Dressed Man has a line about new shoes, Renee’s husband is Chuck, and Chad knows Freddy gets into trouble frequently. They love that Chantal points out Mars, think the salt and pepper shakers in the Jones house look like the Bells in the Fireman’s place, connect the Sunset Boulevard references, and assume that the people filled with love will be fighting demons before this is over. All Audrey theories are on the table including “it’s what it looks like”, and Ruby’s removal from the Roadhouse booth is equally innocuous and a huge personal space violation.

Endgame Podcasts covered Part Fifteen by explaining Nadine: she’s always known Ed’s feelings and now she understands herself. It was aganizing to watch Ed at the diner during the Walter conversation, and the convenience store is a nightmare house. The hosts debate aboit Bowie appearing (almost no chance now) and Judy options. The hosts were surprised that Richard Horne was just there when DoppelCooper came back out, and they suspect Richard didn’t see the convenience store at all. DoppelCooper’s text about Vegas could be to Diane but may be a misdirect going to Hutch and Chantal instead. The Stephen scene is just closing off a storyline, Drunk is Johnny Horne(?!), and Hutch and Chantel are a happy couple. They wonder if Cooper will have memories after he comes back fully, think the tribute to Margaret was a nice one, and believe Audrey will “wake up” from whatever she’s under when she walks through that door. They think Audrey’s hearing voices of the hospital workers as they work around her conatose body. The hosts love the Roadhouse “trolling” scenes, think Bob could be wiped off the face of the Earth, and that DoppelCooper could survive and possibly prevail in the end.

Fire Talk With Me: episode 15 was especially exciting for hosts Jeremy and Allie. Jeremy was excited by mentions of Judy, but realized we’re still not really going to talk about her. The hosts find the woodsmen scenes thrilling, and Allie sees similarities to Mulholland Drive in Mr. C’s driving scenes. The hosts discussed the meaning of the smoke numbers, and pondered the meaning of Jeffries’ reference to Mr. C is Cooper. Allie recognized the wallpaper in the room above the convenience store from Fire Walk with Me. The hosts noticed Mark Frost’s cameo in the woods, and Allie expressed sympathy for Gerstein, who appears to be nothing more to Steven than a sex object. Allie wonders if the crowd scenes at the Roadhouse are being repeated and both hosts were blown away by the Log Lady’s final scene, noting that she gets three goodbye shots: with Hawk, the moon, and the lights going out in her cabin. (Kimberly Shotick)

The hosts of The Gifted and The Damned podcast are a bit divided about the events of part 15. They began their coverage by discussing Audrey’s ongoing struggle to leave her room, which is the biggest point of frustration to co-host Bubba. He says that her storyline is testing his patience, while co-host Mork argues that the appearance of a character referenced in her conversation with Charlie (Chuck, Renee’s husband) in this episode could be an indication that this plot point is not a mere isolated event and that the popular fan theory about her being in a coma is not very likely to be confirmed. They try to come up with a reason why all those random characters are in the jail at the same time. Ed’s big moment made them a little suspicious, they say that the whole scene seemed a little bit dream-like, especially in contrast with the next sequence (Mr. C in the convenience store) but of course, they liked that Norma and Big Ed had a tender closure. Log Lady’s farewell was the highlight of part 15 for them, and they reminisce on her journey throughout the entire Twin Peaks narrative. They debate Mr. C’s arrival at the convenience store, noting that when the woodsman turns the generator on the lighting is similar to when Dougie sticks the fork in the electrical outlet. Mr. C appears to be a little bit out of his element, even nervous, something they took note because would basically be the first time he’s shown some vulnerability. He says to Jeffries that the phone call he received took place 5 days before, which makes them arrive to the conclusion that Mr. C is a damn fast driver, since he went place to place rather quickly. (Maicon Firmiano)

I’m Worried About Coop covered Part Fifteen and began with an interview of Ryan, the musician known as Trilobyte. He likes how Lynch is doing things that give viewers a sense of unease that tests you. It’s hard to experience what Lynch challenges us with and he’s happy this exists to do so. He’s Tammy-agnostic and definitely believes Richard Horne is a product of darkness, and he’s majorly excited about being taken on the last part of this journey. He leaves before the Part Fifteen coverage. The hosts were shocked about Norma selling her franchise but that was before they realized she wanted to go back to keeping only her original diner and all felt right again. Is Nadine a golden ball of light? She has her gold and is positive… Is Dougie “dead”? Yes, now he’s Cooper again after essentially getting electric paddles to the chest. Ruby is wearing Log Lady glasses so was she feeling the pain of Margaret’s loss? The hosts think you can point to the Audrey scenes being in the real world but all the other metaphysical options are still possible. And what did Stephen and Gersten do? Kill Becky? This team mixes in their own real world context into their podcasting and they have a ton of fun working together, which is a nice bonus to go along with their brevity and insightfulness. Always worth a listen.

Lodgers cover Part 14 with the help of guest Dr. Sara Ann Swain and kick off with a discussion of the Sarah in the bar scene, and disagree over whether that is genuine surprise on Sarah’s face after killing the trucker guy. They found the ‘Andy in the lodge’ scene stunning, and think Andy is chosen because he holds Naido’s hand. Something about Freddie’s scene feels off to Simon. Everyone else was okay with it, but agreed the superhero aspect seemed somewhat at odds with the usual Twin Peaks narrative. The Monica Bellucci dream sequence reminded Simon of Lynch’s stint on Louie. They see similarities between The Return and Jacques Rivette in that secondary characters can have as much focus as primary, there is a lot of detail happening but it’s difficult to know what you should be paying attention to. They also talk about the pacing of The Return and representations of women. (Matt Armitage)

Peaked, the podcast hosted by a Lynch fanboy and a Lynch skeptic, covered Part Fifteen. They loved Nadine and the Ed and Norma scene, and that spooky convenience store is EFFECTIVE. They note the Fire Walk With Me motel location, and Jeffries as a teapot. And who knew that anyone would become a teapot. Chad acted like Freddy’s had a history of getting into trouble, Naido sounds birdish as well as like a monkey, and that socket has to be what wakes Cooper up, right? The hosts were hit hard by Margaret’s farewell scenes, thnk Naido must be Judy, and now think Audrey must be mentally ill. They think Becky’s probably been killed by Stephen, and point out Charlene Yi plays Ruby on Stephen Universe but it’s probably just a happy coincidence. She acted out the thematic purpose of the Roadhouse scenes with no dialogue. And one of the hosts had a dream about the Greatest Cake Recipe that he may just make someday.

Sparkwood & 21 covered Part Fifteen in a recap and also put out a Listener Feedback episode. They were on the roller coaster with Ed, thought here’s the rub when we saw Walter, and thought there had to be trouble because things were looking so good. Norma makes her business/romance breakup after Walter points out Norma doesn’t have a family and proves his predator tendencies. So Norma and Nadine are both making choices for their own interests and shoveling out of the shit. Night driving is DoppelCooper’s calling card, the convenience store is an evil Tardis, the one Woodsman looks just like Drunk, and maybe Judy’s the dreamer fueled by the frog/bug possessing her. Evolved Jeffries is steam-powered versus electric powered, and DoppelCooper’s been mistaken for Cooper twice now so it’s close. Is Judy a villain? Diane’s probably not evil, Becky may have OD’ed, maybe like Jerry hallucinations Stephen only THOUGHT something happened, and maybe Stephen (or Becky too) was pulled into a vortex at the end. There could be a LOT of souls in the lodge right now. Was Naido reacting to Freddy’s arrival when the guys were brought in, or was she reacting to James? The Janey-E scream was just like Naomi Watts’ scream in Mulholland Drive right before going from one reality state into another. For a lot of finality, Margaret’s last conversation cuts us out of the answers with who Hawk’s to look for but otherwise it’s a classy character death. Audrey’s arguing in circles still, and Ruby may be getting pulled into something while no one’s paying attention to her. In the Listener Feedback episode, it’s asked if Szimon’s and Z’s are the other Norma’s franchises, as they have a sign that says world famous pies though doesn’t bring Cooper back because of cheap ingredients. Other topics covered are Judy’s identity, Freddy and his glove, electricity versus steam power (and how Jeffries may be stealthing around by being on a different power system), and Cooper’s current state. It’s always well worth a listen if you want to be thinking through all the folds The Return has.

There Will be Drinking Recaps Twin Peaks drink deep and descend into Part 15. Cait liked 99% of this part, but hated the Audrey scene. Murda tries to soothe her with talk of slow builds but isn’t too successful. They love the Big Ed and Norma scene, nominate their kiss for the Best Kiss Awards, and delight in the soapy melodrama which they’ve been missing in The Return. They ponder whether the face on the jumping man is Judy and are intrigued at Poopy Coopies out of character concern regarding Judy’s identity and intentions. They don’t see the point of the Steven and Gersten scene and don’t find them relevant enough to care about. They like new James and find the roadhouse fight very polite, with Freddie murderpunching everyone while James apologises. They feel that Freddies destiny lies in the jail cells relating to Naido. They sympathise with Chantel and her lack of torture and wish every man was a dessert-bringing psychopath like Hutch. The highlight of their podcast as ever are their theories as to what Donna is currently up to. (Matt Armitage)

Time For Cherry Pie and Coffee (a subheading of the Time For Cakes and Ales podcast) began their Part 15 review by talking about their impressive timeline document, which you can see on their Twitter stream here. The hosts felt this was a fantastic, very emotional episode – giving fans an image they had been waiting to see for a very long time, Ed and Norma together at last. They noted that the series is “pseudo episodic” with loose themes in each episode. If Part 14 was about memories and the passage of time, then Part 15 is about portraying starkly different viewpoints of mortality. They felt the Log Lady’s words about death as a transformation applied to the show as much to her own passing, as it has chosen to take such a new direction. Considering the opening scene with Nadine, they said they’d enjoyed her arc, showing real genuine change and development, achieving independence. They felt it was nice that human melodrama still has its place in the fabric of Twin Peaks, alongside the supernatural Lodge events. They considered the golden shovel symbol, which had seemed hokey to many fans but was such a powerful personal totem to Nadine, lending her new emotional strength to match her physical might. It was crushing to see Ed’s chance to finally be with Norma almost thwarted by Walter, they said. But the turnaround in the beautiful shot where Norma’s hand touches Big Ed’s shoulder was a powerful payoff. They were pleased that all three characters – Ed, Norma and Nadine – were left happy by the outcome. The hosts took time out to wonder about Norma’s line about “having family”. Was she talking about staff at the RR and the town’s community? Or is it finally a reference to Annie, who has been skipped over so far. Does this indicate that Annie may rear her head? It would be odd if she was absent, given the Season 2 cliffhanger. Moving on to Mr C’s scene at the Dutchman’s, they noted the wallpaper was the same as the Chalfont painting in Fire Walk With Me (FWWM). They also felt the motel was the same one featured in FWWM – where Leland planned to meet Theresa, but saw Laura and bailed. Is the Lodge creating doppel-places they wondered? The convenience store appears to have had at least three locations, they noted – New Mexico, Seattle and now this point on the way to Twin Peaks. So it is able to travel and be where it is needed, they speculated. The Woodsman flipping a switch outside the door reminded the hosts again of FWWM, where one of the denizens at Jeffries’ meeting flipped a switch – but also in seemed to echo a Chet Desmond scene at Haps diner, where a person sat by a TV outside in a very similar position. They discussed the Jumping Man’s reappearance and the apparent superimposition of Sarah Palmer’s face. They wondered if the dark corridor was the same on where we saw Cooper in the trailer for the show? Will Cooper visit this place in episodes to come? Is Laura’s doorway painting still in the Palmer house? The hosts mused that this meant Sarah was living with a portal. No wonder she is troubled/inhabited/connected to lodges – especially considering her psychic ability. Is the Palmer house now a shadow-self of a place, like the motel, they asked? Jeffries appearing as a “giant smoking kettle” means no Bowie cameo is imminent, the hosts admitted. But it does make sense of re-dubbing his voice in a previous episode. The kettle device was reminiscent of the Giant’s ‘bells’ and the ‘Mauve Zone’ cogs and levers. Were the smoke numbers – call-back to Native American smoke signals? The hosts recalled smoke rising off Jeffries in FFWM when he was “zapping around”. They wondered why both Jeffries and Mr C speak forwards in the Lodges, while everyone else is reversed and went on to speculate about whether humans, becoming imbued with ‘Lodginess’ are able to change their form? Is that what has now happened to Laura? If so, what form will she take? The conversation between Jeffries and Mr C seems strange, they felt. They liked the way Lynch and Frost had taken a potentially throwaway line from FWWM (“Who do you think that is there?”) and woven it into 25 years of mythology. They recalled the security camera in Bowie’s FWWM sequence, with Cooper watching himself frozen on the monitor – implying two Coopers, a separation into two forms. The characters were suddenly talking about Judy. Why is this important to Mr C, the hosts wondered? Is Jeffries experiencing time in non-linear way? Has Cooper (in one form or another) already met Judy on his timeline? This discussion led to theorising around Judy and who she might be: Cooper has met Naido – is she Judy? It might fit with some mythology, if Judy was meant to be Josie’s sister? Possible, but unlikely, they concluded. Outside of the lodge, Cooper has met Janey-E, Candie, Mandie and Sandie, but none of them seem obvious candidates. Could the casino girls be three aspects of a single entity? Or is Laura Judy? The hosts thought this was also unlikely – Laura is so much her own entity, why refer to her in a third name. Although – there was mention previously of a possible red-headed incarnation of Laura? Anything could happen, they felt! All these characters are being given coordinates leading to Judy, and Leland told Cooper “Find Laura” – is that leading him to the same end by a different route? Or is Judy a codename for Garland Briggs? Judy Garland – Wizard of Oz references. Or maybe, as the hosts say, “Everyone and no-one is Judy!” Richard Horne reveals his mother is Audrey, the hosts noted adding that this is thefirst time a character in a real-world timeline has referenced Audrey Horne. They’re looking forward to Mr C and Richard’s father son road trip. Are they headed to Twin Peaks? Richard is wanted by the law there. The way the convenience store disappears reminded them of a previous tangent about the myth of the Flying Dutchman ghost ship – sailors reported seeing this ship then watching it vanish. They next turned to Mark Frost reprising his role of Cyril Ponds and went on to talk about the strange dialogue between Steven and Gersten. Confusing references to Becky. Has he killed her? They are clearly out of their minds on drugs. His itchy leg is reminiscent of Sky Ferreira’s itchy armpit in the “booth of mystery” as is their mention of animals. This scene’s dialogue is almost incomprehensible, they felt, much like the Pink Room in FWWM. Steven’s “high school graduate” reference was also odd. Are we meant to sympathise? It harks back to disastrous job interview. Was this his one achievement in life? When they see Mark Frost, the hosts felt Gersten’s reaction – hiding – was not like someone caught having an affair, but maybe someone trying not to be seen with a murderer? Something has happened. The scene is followed by an image of Becky and Steven’s trailer with ominous music – reminded the hosts of Andy’s meeting with the farmer, ominous music on that shot of the farm. It’s unclear how it connects but feels linked somehow. The hosts were interested to see Gersten wearing a ring that looks like owl cave ring – but with red stone. The Roadhouse scene with James and Freddy seems to serve purpose of getting James and Freddie in police custody, they felt. The noticed that only Chad and maybe Naido seem to be acknowledging the bleeding drunk. He’s sat at the far end like woodsman in cells with Bill Hastings way back at the beginning of the series. They predict Freddie is there to protect Naido. But why are the others there? Maybe the drunk is there just as Chad’s personal hell? They enjoyed Hutch and Chantal’s loving moment – it makes them more than just simple two-dimensional hitmen, adding depth in a typically Twin Peaks way. The hosts were worried by the “dark precedent” in Chantal talking about torture. Dougie-Cooper is enjoying another piece of (now stale, surely) cake. They noted that he moves one salt/pepper shaker away from the other. Two identical objects and he separates them. Also, they are bell-shaped objects. They felt it interesting that he starts prodding the remote control without any prompting from MIKE or others. Dougie-Coop seems to be gaining/developing some agency as the series progresses. The Sunset Boulevard comment about getting “the old team back together” – seems to register. Then the line “Get me Gordon Cole” appears to make him realise who he may be. The hosts feel like the suppressed real Cooper finds something to latch onto, triggering the alarming sequence where he puts fork in the socket. Is he trying to go back, they wondered? Will it jolt him awake? Is he trying to connect with electricity or does he know that this is what he needs to do to be released from Dougie shell? The hosts speculated that he could be dead. Would that release half of Coop back to the Lodge? Or will he wake up in hospital? Is Cooper back? On this they gave a tentative ‘Yes’, but thought he may be unconscious for the next hour. What kind of Cooper will he be? They would love to see an echo of Lucy’s recap when Cooper wakes up after being shot in Series two. Moving to the heartbreaking call from Log Lady to Hawk, they discussed Margaret Lanterman as an integral part of the mythology of the town and the show, so prominent at all the key moments. A figure of “hope and leadership”, trying to communicate her messages right up to the end. The character displays such bravery in the face of her own mortality. The scene was a profound way of understanding death, they felt. She was ingrained in the battle between the lodges in the town. So much respect and sadness from other characters. A stoic and fitting end to Margaret’s arc – sad yet celebratory. She is living on in the way the town remembers her – like Laura still powerful in death. They noted the episode was dedicated to her character – enabling her to move beyond fiction, into the real world. Finally, they wondered about timeline of these scenes. Audrey and Charlie’s scene made the hosts wonder what is going on? Audrey seems unable to leave. The dialogue goes in stilted circles. Is Charlie like a mirror or a projection of Audrey? She wants to go, but cannot bring herself to leave. The hosts questioned when and where these scenes are taking place? Her physical attack on him made them wonder if a big pivotal reveal is soon to come. They noted a “bit of a Harold Smith vibe” in her not leaving the house? Harold was very definitely in the real world, but he did live vicariously through stories and Charlie has mentioned “ending your story” previously. Back to the Roadhouse and it’s Ruby in “booth of mystery” being dumped unceremoniously on the floor. They felt her crawling was reminiscent of Dougie earlier in the episode. Her scream seemed to be channelling the anger and fear of the entire town, they felt, noticing that nobody responded to her, which seems important. Also the strobing/flickering lights that accompany the scene are not generally a good sign. They wondered what the cuts to the motel and “unlock the door” woman could mean. In their closing thoughts the hosts felt there was an awful lot to do in the remaining three hours. Everyone is heading to Twin Peaks. Judy is suddenly important – will the Buenos Aires location come back? Regarding Jeffries – is someone in the FBI using his identity? That person may be playing Albert, Diane and others. (Mat Cult)

Afterbuzz’s Twin Peaks After Show started their coverage of Part Fifteen by discussing if some storylines are in different dimension from each other. The Nadine scene was amazing, the there/not there convenience store was spooky good, and Diane has to know Dougie, right? So why is she hiding information? Naido can still be Judy, Mark Frost may have been faded in from the forest into the scene where he talks to Carl Rodd, and the discuss the Gersten/Stephen scene. The hosts don’t want Becky dead, it’d be too unceremonious and early for that, but Laura never had much time on screen either so Becky really could be dead. The hosts notice how the jukebox skips every time Freddy punches, and the Margaret scene wrecked everyone because Catherine Coulson was the heart of the show. It’s tough for them to make heads or tails out of the Audrey scene. Their cohost (and OG fan) Lex Michael is out as of this episode due to traveling conflicts but I think the other hosts will be fine picking up his slack. This show’s consistently shown insight and foresight from all its hosts.

Twin Peaks Peeks covered Part Fifteen with guest Scott Benson of the I’m So Sure podcast and they began with a Judy Swain into that made me lose it. Great stuff as always there, and the rest of the episode is also top-notch as always. Scott thinks Audrey and Dougie are the litmus test of things you have to get through in the Return but overall he likes it. This podcast marks the end of Matt’s OTP Ed and Nadine segment Drape Runner Corner, which is played to much maudlin fun, and then the hosts wonder if The Return will be Arrested Development Season 4 all over again. That had filming schedules that didn’t allow the characters to interact with and play off each other, and payoffs were not made until ten episodes later. At face value I see their argument. They discus show pacing and make note that there will be as many minutes of the Return as there was in the entirety of Season Two. They wonder if Sparkle is just a plot device and ask where’s Red? They think Sparkle is just a metaphor for just how dark it is for people in Twin Peaks. Scott thinks we won’t see any more Ben Horne and we need more Tom Page. They got meta about every song played so far in the Roadhouse actually being just a recording this whole time. Freddy’s being set up to protect Naido, probably from Richard Horne and DoppelCooper. Mr. Todd, never seen away from his desk, may not have any legs. When he wakes, the hosts hope Cooper thanks Phil Bisby for all the coffees. They’ll be shocked in Part Sixteen doesn’t have Cooper. They remind us we still don’t know who Linda is, and think there’s probably one more scene with the Mitchum brothers and the pink girls. They weigh Judy identity options: Briggs holds up, and the Vertigo identities imply it’s Laura Palmer. Ashley’s growing a theory about the atom bomb explosion, electricity, steam power and the effects of industrialization that I like a lot and think it sounds fantastic. They think Audrey may be getting involuntary therapeutic help, wonder if Richard Horne’s rage comes from Audrey, and think “she won’t ever leave that house, will she?” About Sarah Palmer, they say she’s been so close to it for so long she’s just been taken over. The Roadhouse scenes are picking up steam, and Margaret’s scene was not actually exploitative. It was truthful and beautiful, and connects with the viewers in that human way the show just didn’t do in the beginning. Then it’s juxtaposed with Stephen’s absolute despair of an ending. By the end of Part Eighteen, Scott thinks there could be a reset, where the Palmers end up being a happy family, but Cooper will have to die for that to happen. And Shelly and Bobby will probably have a reunion after their daughter is killed. They want a fine point put on this series, but I suspect those will come few and far between.

Twin Peaks The Return: Part Fifteen. This week’s episode was almost twice its usual length, but stellar as always. The returning guests were sound experts Thembi and Jess. I have to fess up here that I found it very difficult to tell their voices apart so if I have mixed anyone up, Mea Culpa! Jess and Thembi made some comments regarding sound in the series in general: Jess noted that the sound in Part 14 when Sarah Palmer enters the bar (and also the scene at the Gas Farm with Ed’s reflection) sounded like the horse at the end of episode 8 – she referred to it as a “very close delay”. She doesn’t know what it means but it is so specific that it must mean something. It recalled for Jess a feeling of dissociation which fits with Sarah as she seems to be dissociated most of the time. Thembi suggested that the delay encapsulates the “Between Two Worlds” theme. The team were mostly very affected by the Ed/Norma scene, though Thembi had mixed feelings about how Ed has always treated Nadine, patronisingly. Hayley agreed – Nadine has so many people making decisions for her, and feels that also Ed is a self-martyr and nobody ever asked him to be. Jess felt that while this is true that this scene gave Nadine agency. They loved the Otis Redding song and Hayley noted that Lynch understands how you can marry song lyrics to an image. (I nearly fell over in shock at Hayley complimenting Lynch!) The team talked about the shot in The Dutchman’s/Convenience Store sequence where the mask of the jumping man was intercut with Sarah’s face. The mask appeared when Sarah took her face off and the team wondered if perhaps this was Sarah’s access to the Black Lodge. Andy saw the FWWM scene as proof that Mr C has Cooper’s memories. The team noted that this is the first time we have seen Mr. C emotional: unsure, angry, and this display of emotion made Jess think that this is ACTUALLY Cooper with his dark side amplified. She likened him to Dorothy (meeting the Tin Man, the Man behind the curtain and the fake Wizard of Oz). Thembi believes that Diane is Judy (me too!) Andy proposed that inside his “teapot”, Jeffries is suspended like gas. “Descended from pure air” as per The Missing Pieces. Given Hayley’s feelings about that certain horrible rumour regarding Audrey and Mr C she was very unhappy with the Richard/Mr C scene as she feels ‘the worst theory’ is pretty likely. However on the subject of Mr C and Diane, Jess is still holding fast that we do not know for sure that they are working together, particularly given the fact that Diane is talking to someone who is also using an IPhone (because the texts are blue, not green) and Cooper is not using an IPhone. There was a pretty unanimous decision that Steven is completely repulsive. Hayley noted that Steven is the epitome of a guy who would never get dates if he didn’t have a steady stream of drugs. The team noted that there is no guarantee he is dead, though. Just because a gunshot was heard we cannot assume anything. However, they wondered if Becky is dead given the shot of the trailer which was very Mulholland Drive. Andy wondered if James deliberately started the fight to get Freddy into the TP Sheriff’s Department. Possibly maybe something to do with what was in the boiler room? On to the Jones house: Dougie Coop is starting to have small independent thoughts and making choices. Andy noted that of all the theories about what would bring Cooper back, he doubts any of them would have thought it would be due to Sunset Boulevard. Jess mentioned the electricity units and their they have appeared in episode 3 and 15, the same numbers that were on the doors in the Purple Room and of course Cooper’s room in The Great Northern. Thembi felt grief in this moment over the inevitable death of Dougie and Hayley proposed that we will see the two Coopers becoming one rather than an actual “death” of one of them as stated by Phillip Gerard. The team felt that both Dougie and Mr C’s faces were very different in this episode and that they are both changing, maybe coming back together. Andy wondered if the next time we see Cooper will be the first time we saw him in Part 1. Speaking of grief, Andy read the dialogue from Margaret’s final scene and I then cried a lot THE END. This scene debunks the idea that Hawk’s scene in Part 3 is a flash forward. Andy noted that the following scene where Hawk informs the crew of Margaret’s death had a “Beautiful Badalamenti cue” (either from the Laura as Golden Orb scene or the child dying after being hit by Richard). Hayley felt that Lynch and Catherine Coulson delivering this performance together, talking frankly about death when actually dying was amazing and that the closest to this was Bowie’s last album – a perfect goodbye and a chance to mediate on what grief is (crying again, thanks Hayley!). The team then turned to the Audrey/Charlie scene. Audrey is stuck on the threshold. Hayley argued that she is definitely in a space she wants to leave but whatever is keeping her there (mentally, physically) she is not allowing herself to leave. She also sees Charlie as a “gaslighting motherfucker” Jess noted that there are parallels between Dougie’s journey and Audrey’s journey. That they are gradually putting themselves back together but Audrey’s displacement is about anger (maybe to do with Richard?) Hayley noted that there is a strange cadence in Charlie that is nothing like the rest of the show in the way that he takes up space. She sees it as otherworldly, almost like a more eloquent version of Mr C (he doesn’t know how to exist in the real world – he is mirroring real behaviour but is not quite right.). Andy floated the theory that this is a psychiatric hospital and Hayley wondered whether Twin Peaks is perhaps doing Shutter Island. The team unanimously enjoyed the final scene with Ruby. Andy was relieved that there was no actual violence (given the propensity for showing violence against women thus far). Jess and Hayley loved the crawling and sonic screaming – they felt Ruby’s scream was a conduit for every woman’s righteous scream at being ignored and infantalised. Andy felt there was something inhabiting her given the flashes of white when she screamed and the electrical noises. The episode concluded with an interview with Jake Wardle who plays Freddie which was restricted to what had aired prior to Episode 15 (and nothing after due to the NDA). He did suggest that while “Nobody uses cockney rhyming slang anymore” – David Lynch apparently loves it and knows a lot. He had to exaggerate his accent even though he’s from East London and this led to fans thinking he was from the US and putting on the accent. He mentioned Danny Dyer as an influence and that he envisioned Freddie as coming from Bethnall Green. Jake concluded the interview saying: “There’s more coming up but that’s all I can say at the moment…have to be a bit of a Jobsworth about it”. (Yvette Giles)

Twin Peaks Revival covered Parts Fourteen and Fifteen in a single podcast with MLFotos. They hoped the Bellucci dream scene wasn’t another dirty old man fantasy thing, enjoyed Freddy’s Hulk hand, and notice Freddy has no remorse for clocking people in the face. They’re not a fan of Fireman, and they’re suspicious if the Ed and Norma happy ending actually happened or if it’s Ed’s dreaming it up. Naido should have just been Josie, Part Fourteen felt like a filler episode, and there are a ton of effective scenes with Diane but the guest doesn’t like her. They also wonder if she’s a tulpa. They discuss the (lack of) differences between Hawk- killing a man at One Eyed Jacks- and Chad –bribe taker and spineless- so why the uneven treatment, and they think it makes sense that Sarah Palmer’s been taken over because what’s left of her anyway? Part Fifteen dragged and seemed like a bunch of deleted scenes sewed together. They think Ed fantasied his happy Norma ending, and think Stephen’s a complete waste of our time. They want to see a Janey-E/Diane fight, and think Coop either died or is completely back after the fork in the outlet. The Ruby scene was REALLY effective, especially as a dream within a dream. The hosts don’t think The Return will stand the test of time though the original series will. This feels like a show whereas the people who watched the original series saw Twin Peaks then as a whole moment in time. This won’t do that, they think. I hope they’re wrong, but as they’re moving through it without sight of the ending, I understand them having frustration.

Twin Peaks Rewatch hosts “really, really” like episode 15, seeing it as a set-up for the story to come to an end. Ed’s fan-pleasing moment with Norma, set to Otis Redding, was a particularly pleasing moment. They explore their own theories about Twin Peaks doppleganger lore and what their theories may mean for the existence of Cooper. Is Mr. C a piece of a single split Cooper, or a completely separate entity? They again bring the order of the storyline into question and question the meaning of Mr. C’s “Las Vegas” text. Interestingly, they point out that the text differs from the one Diane receives–what does this mean? As with many plot points with that don’t seem to have a clear explanation, they won’t speculate. They find the Gerstein/Stephen scene bemusing, but beautifully shot, comparing it to a high-budget nature documentary. Similarly, they find the Return’s version of Twin Peaks expansive, in contrast to the original series, with more insular characters and shots. And yet, they argue, Twin Peaks still feels like its own little “bubble” in space and time. The hosts describe the results of Freddie and James’ jailing as the assemblage of a “superteam” to deal with whatever wrath Mr. C brings when he comes to town. As with the previous episode, they love the “comical rage” of the investigator at the Las Vegas FBI. While they are accepting that Dougie isn’t for everyone, they are both fans. They see the Gordon Cole mention in Dougie’s scene as zapping his brain back into a Cooper existence, if only momentarily, thanks to the subtle acting of Kyle MacLachlan. As with most viewers, they find the Log Lady’s final scene intensely sad, but were unsettled by Hawk’s silence. What is going on with Audrey and Charlie? They note that her scene is, yet again, intentionally frustrating, much like Waiting for Godot. Finally, they find it hysterical that the Roadhouse audience loves whoever performs there, from NIN, to James, to the playing of a ZZ Top recording. (Kimberly Shotick)

Twin Peaks Unwrapped Pt. 15 Glad that Ben & Byron are back in the studio. You can hear them much better. Amazing episode. One of Bryon’s all-time favorite moments a year and half for this magical moment. Since they touched on a lot, I’m going to give the first part a skim and then get into two theories that TPU vamped about quite thoroughly. Let’s get into part of the recap. Nadine walking down the street with the gold shovel, is she going to beat Ed up? Confronts Ed about staying with her, and she knows he loves Norma. But it seems as though Nadine has a thing for Dr. Amp. True love is giving what makes the other person happy. Nadine has definitely grown and can take care of herself. She walked the whole way, so her mind changing wasn’t happening per Nadine. She’s had a lot of time to think. Brought up memories of Lucy/Andy chair debate. Again, a lovely message of love. Otis’s song was perfect for this scene. SO excited for Ed. Norma was a bit reserved, just needed to take a minute. Walter was romancing her to get farther in the franchises. Cyanide pill line was like so funny. She goes back to what she knows. When she mentioned family, Bryon thought Annie immediately. Ben did not, he assumed she meant TP family. Byron did realize she was speaking of the TP community. Ed sitting at the counter, looks like he’s meditating. Ben was thinking that Ed was coming to terms of letting Norma go, since Nadine just let him go. Bryon was thinking maybe he was mediating to will Norma to realize and come back to him. Prayer and willing it to happen, then bravo DL framing this shot with the hand coming over Ed’s should. Waiting 25 years for this!!! Big Ed and Norma are going to get married! (Mentioned Shelley meme, about Shelley telling her drug dealing boyfriend how sweet this is! Ooh, Burn!) Was Shelley thinking she wants to be back with Bobby? Maybe, maybe not. Here’s where we get into theories: Convenience Store. Andy saw the electric poles that we saw as well as Mr. C is driving up to the convenience store in this scene. Original Woodsmen outside, not our sooted Woodsmen. He takes Mr. C through places, the stairs, in the picture (painting) Laura gets from FWWM. They vanish before they get up the stairs. Woodsmen with goo coming from mouth sitting by the T.V. The thought is the Woodsmen are mono e mono with the drug addicts. Like the drippy Woodsmen is just like Billy sitting in the jail cell. Woodsmen are somehow connected with the drugs. Mr. C goes, “Where’s Jeffries?” Both thought they’d see Bowie, they got so excited. The switch flipped and then we see the Jumping Man. Begin talking about Sarah Palmer’s image onto the Jumping Man. Ben’s theory on Jumping man, representing that the B.L. got Sarah Palmer, she is now in the mix, part of the darkness. Don’t think S.P. is the girl with the bug. Sarah Palmer has lived 25 with the pain/suffering, living with so much garmonbozia. She’s been keeping strong all these years. Ultimate host of a lodge creature, since she’s been so sorrowful, and it’s a Palmer. Bob wanted Laura so badly, but couldn’t so allowed herself to die. S.P. the most broken person in T.P., now Bob is trying to get her. Jumping man is representing this disease jumping back into the family. Byron thinking maybe the Mother is in Sarah. Whatever it is its evil. Jumping man= jumping blood lines, not just Palmer line but Sarah’s family this time. Bryon sees the picture with a squiggly scene noise, slowed down the sound. So he played with the sound. Reddit says a voice sounds like “Back a way a little way Michael. Back away, back away.” Michael is a gaffer on the show so maybe it’s just a direction from Lynch. Byron thought it was just saying, “Go away”, but both think it’s just Lynch’s directions from the scene that was picked up on the audio and sped up so you can’t tell it’s just D.L. shouting stage directions. John Thorne, from Blue Rose Magazine thinks we’re going to get a living Laura Palmer, what if she was sucked out and didn’t happen yet. What if to save S.P., Laura was sucked out into the real world. But what if Sarah sucked her out. Byron, thinks Face-offs coming in the next episodes could be Laura vs. Sarah, Mr. C vs. Coop. Motel from Fire Walk with Me. Same location. All parts of all this evil, including the Motel. More Jeffries later. But once Mr. C leaves the convenience store disappears. It’s showing the convenience store is most likely connected to the Woods. Now Jeffries. He’s a tea kettle (No, guys it’s a Percolator!!!!) Everything is so dark and Lynch does this on purpose. And upon seeing it, it was hard to take in. This is like the Great Oz behind the curtain. Nathan Frizzell (voice actor who is voicing Jeffries and doing a great job) “Are you Cooper?” Yada, yada, yada. Mr. C is saying, “Who is Judy?” Really after 25 years, they talk about Judy!!! Jeffries says you’ve already met Judy. Mr. C has no idea. He knows all other stuff, but doesn’t know who Judy is. The #’s for coordinates for Twin Peaks. Getting into who is Judy. Ben’s gut tells him it’s Naido. (Good feeling, Ben. This was my position in this week’s Black Lodge/White Lodge debate.) But his heart tells him it’s Garland Briggs. (Really?) A constant anchor for Briggs was always home, and he predicted with Bobby about his future. Part of Ben feels like Briggs is the Wizard (Judy Garland/Garland Briggs). Naido though is in T.P.’s and that’s where the coordinates go. Naido is making monkey noises. FWWM and the monkey, whispering Judy, Naido makes monkey noises and she did help Cooper (before he lost his shoes). All the players we need are in the jail cell too. Naido, Green Glove, all in one place. Side note: Mr. C text to Diane, Bryon thinks they aren’t talking to each other. Just coincidence. Phone rings, and Mr. C is transported into telephone booth back outside and duh, duh, dun…it’s Richard. Reason for following, he recognized he is an FBI agent and his mother has a picture. Audrey Horne!!! Again, duh, duh, dun! Mr. C pulls spit trick and then kicks the crap & gets the gun from Dick. Don’t do that again, but we’ll discuss more. Ben still doesn’t believe Audrey was impregnated in a coma. Doesn’t buy the whole Mr. C father of Richard, maybe, both say they don’t know. Gersten & Steven. Tweaking. Under the impression he’s done something really bad. Always questioning. He did this, no she did this (Gersten) then asks what did you she give you? Seems as though he may have attempted to kill Becky, and now wants to die. Cyril Pons and his dog show up, Mark Frost!!! Loved it. Didn’t know it was him until he found Steven & Gersten. She takes off and runs behind the tree and then we hear the gunshot. We assume that Steven kills himself. Seems like Gersten was trying to calm him down, then she realized he was going to really use the gun. Pons goes to Carl and then points to trailer to motion he’s seen Steven in the woods. Roadhouse intro: ZZ Top Sharp Dressed Man (Guys, this is me J.C. talking but I’m convinced this is because our Special Agent, Mr. Dale Cooper himself is coming back to us. And we all know how sharp he looks in that black suit, okay dressed, I’ll stop fangirling now). CD skips when Freddie aka Green glove punched the guys. Also another side note: Ben & Byron, Chuck was not the one run off the road, it was Trick (Scott Coffey) Chuck is the one involved with Billy, Tina, etc. James interaction was weird. Motorcycle accident / loss of social skills possibly? Thought is the Fireman wanted an outward source to come into T.P.’s to help protect. Things are going shift (plays on John Bernardy’s (our own 25 Years Later) earth quake theory) So Green Glove (Freddie) is going to be a big presence. Then they go to jail. James is part of the puzzle, somehow or maybe just an innocent bystander, but seems to be there with Freddie for a reason. Maybe they need a cool guy in the jail with everyone. Thought Bobby/James exchange would happen. Now Green Glove (Freddie) is there to help Naido. Bet very easily Freddie can bust out of jail. Maybe even Chad can be redeemed with the fight that maybe coming. They also think Billy (or whomever) maybe a Woodsmen. Billy jumped a 6’ fence and then stared, and didn’t talk. This goes back to the conversation that the girls had before at the Roadhouse about Billy. So super human strength, runny mouth? Was the Woodsmen’s job to get someone in the cell? Making Freddie a kink in the works from the Fireman? Parallel between Dougie Coop & Ruby crawling. Perfect sync. (For those who haven’t seen this yet, go to YouTube, you should be able to find it there). Todd. Dead. Roger. Dead. Chantal ready for her French fries and ketchup. Chantal & Hutch, no time for torturing. (To add my two cents, I thought the end where Chantal tells Hutch, “There’s Mars.” Was very interesting. You guys did mention this, but it sticks out). When Chantal shows up in Vegas there’s three possibilities. 1) Cooper skips town. 2) Cooper is awake and stops her in her tracks or 3) the possibility that either the killing of Janey-E or Sonny Jim gets hurt in the balance. So we’ll see. Dougie Coop eating chocolate cake. (Still Sonny Jim’s b-day cake). Then he plays with the remote, Sunset Blvd. Get Gordon Cole!!! Finally a trigger word OMG he realizes the name!!!! Gordon is his boss, so he’s important to Coop. They are great friends and always about his work. Almost like Cooper telling himself, “I shouldn’t be comatose, I should be finding Gordon! Outlet, maybe I’ll wake up!” We don’t know what happens to Cooper. What do we think we’ll happen? Next Part, Coop is awake!!! Payoff is going to be great. Will he be in the Joneses house or will Coop be in the lodge? Maybe a short cut back with T.P.’s. What if the Fireman sits him down (Again two cents from me J.C. – what if Pt. 1 plays out for the next part guys?) Margaret /Hawk. Teary eyed and so sweet that they gave a fitting and beautiful send off to Margaret Lanterman. Catherine’s character went beyond Twin Peaks. So fitting they gave the closure. How brave she was for doing this for the new season, but filming that and knowing she was dying. It was so touching and beautifully done. For David, for the fans. She gave us so much in the character and in herself as a person (even to Ben & Byron at T.P. Fest when she was still sick). Very brave, indeed. She will be extremely missed. In the midst of all this, then there is Audrey and Charlie. Sherilyn has been fabulous, but this is getting frustrating. Is she in the nuthouse, which everyone seems to mention? Is she still stuck in a coma? All we know is Audrey seems to be getting as frustrated as we are, and in her frustration she starts to choke Charlie. Maybe we’ll get more in this week’s Part 16. (J.C. Hotchkiss)

We’re Not Gonna Talk About Judy (A subheading of the Another Kind of Distance podcast) began their coverage of Part Fifteen by complimenting Wendy Robie for her Nadine acting, and being surprised that Ed actually gets what he went for. Then back on the Lost Highway with Mr. C, Richard Horne actually reacts psychologically accurately for someone who doesn’t know his own father. The “she” in the Gersten/Stephen scene might be Becky, and they wonder if the dialogue makes a similarity to the Diane Selwyn scene in Mulholland Drive. Maybe he didn’t kill someone, maybe he was protecting himself, who knows. The hosts think the James/Freddy Roadhouse scene was awesome, and they just now figured out the Sunset Boulevard connections to Twin Peaks. The Audrey possibilities lean towards actually being in reality, and they didn’t go for the Roadhouse scene at all for one host while the other found it compelling and possibly an existential break.

Who Killed Laura Podcast, covering Parts 14 and 15. Episode 48 of The Who Killed Laura Podcast covers episode 14 of The Return and came out just before their recap of episode 15. The hosts look up the meaning of the word “tupla,” subsequently giving Tammy props for choosing such an appropriate word given its Tibetan roots. They note memory issues that seem to affect those near the people from another place, as evidenced by Gordon and Albert’s returning memory of Phillip Jeffries’ interaction with Cooper (from FWWM). The hosts would gladly watch another season, even if it didn’t contain some of the weirder show elements, given the chemistry of Hawk, Bobby, Andy, and Frank. One host thought Naido was Josie at first, and both assume that the jailed drunk is Billy. They mistake one of the Roadhouse booth-ladies as a Lynch daughter (the actress, Shane Lynch, has no relation), and notice that this episode makes two mentions of a “nuthouse.” They propose that Billy and the zombie girl, vomiting in the car in an earlier episode, are on the designer drug that’s going around town. In The Who Killed Laura Podcast Scott and Christopher give an observant and speculatory recap of part 15. They begin by announcing the winner of their Blue Rose Task Force t-shirt contest. They love the Ed and Nadine scene, seeing it as the end of their story. They disagree over the location of the convince store, whether or not it is near Twin Peaks, though they entertain the possibility that the convenience store is able to travel through time and space. They note that the woodsmen do not open doors–they move through space fluidly. The woman who unlocks the door looks like Mrs. T, from FWWM and the original series, but younger. The hosts joke about Steven’s wispy mustache and muse about his dialog, noting that he loads the gun in the forest–suggesting that he may not have recently killed someone (Becky). However, they notice the broken window in their trailer and wonder if that suggests the opposite. After Chantelle kills Mr. Todd and Roger and is back with Hutch the hosts noticed that she points out the planet Mars, which is also the god of war. They are fairly sure that Mr. C is Richard’s father, and that we will get confirmation next episode. In Dougie’s scene they see Cooper start to snap back when Janey-E begins to talk about all of their dreams coming true, as if he is beginning to realize that this is not his life. They note that the log lady addresses the audience, as opposed to Hawk, in her farewell. The hosts wish the episode ended on her farewell. They wonder why Audrey is with Charlie, as she seems above his pay grade. Perhaps he has her in a trance? The hosts doubt that we have enough future episode time left to get Cooper back and have him see Audrey again. However, they note, the episodes could start to go Game of Thrones speed. But hopefully not. We’d rather get a season 4. (Kimberly Shotick)

Wrapped In Podcast covering Part Fifteen. They started the episode debating if each other are Tulpas…they all argue their realness inconclusively. They think Dr. Amp implanted this idea into Nadine’s head, she didn’t just come to this after all these years…fine either way. They loved this live Otis Redding recording in the scene, which they also adored. So much joy…and now darkness. The convenience store is same building as Part 8, but different location. We’re somewhere between Twin Peaks and Western Montana, so is it a moving way station that is manifest where it needs to be? They walk up stairs where there is no second floor, and instead they blink to somewhere else, providing some clarity on “we lived above a convenience store.” The woodsmen are some for of goon or minion for the black lodge probably. The woodsman triggers some sort of device that shows us the Jumping Man and Sarah Palmer, which everyone was very excited about. The floral wallpaper from Mrs. Chalfont’s picture she gave to Laura, as well as Gordon’s vision, is there. We see BOB’s favorite turntable and stylus. Is this all related to the Palmer house? Mr. C was scared to be sucked back into the Black Lodge, but entered here freely, so it’s unlikely the convenience store IS the Black Lodge. Do all characters see the same thing, or is this place subjective? Every time they transition somewhere, they go through trees. Hawk’s map has fire, is electricity the modern fire, used for travel or transference? That would make “fire walk with me” literal. This location is the Mount Si Motel, same one used for Teresa Banks’ hotel room in FWWM (I confirmed this by visiting it this week, TB was in room 6, Mr. C walked into room 8). Jeffries scene reminded them of Dune. They think Judy is Garland Briggs or Naido, and imposter Jeffries is Mike or The Arm. They relate Coop to Anakin Skywalker and Mr. C as Darth Vader. Why is Stephen on the show? Representing generational decay? Dangers of sparkle? Maybe this is how Becky breaks the cycle, if she’s still alive. White Lodge good guys have done lots of work, at least 25 years of prep. Freddie was delivered to protect Naido, along with Bobby and Andy and everyone too. Good guys are getting together to win this thing! Kyle (podcaster) called part 16 for the return of Coop and stands by it. They paralleled Sunset Boulevard to TP. Norma Desmond is the dreamer who dreams, also Max Von’s. Dougy crawling and electrocuting himself synchs to Charlyne Yi crawling and screaming in the Roadhouse (check YouTube). Log turning to gold is beautiful alchemy, they loved Hawk saying nothing, out of respect for her saying all that needed to be said. They hate Audrey scenes, like an out of place Samuel Beckett play. Is it a nightmare? Fugue state in a coma? Is she mentally ill and he’s a therapist? Is this all normal? This would be most horrible, but would explain Richard Horne. One podcaster wishes she died in the bank explosion rather than this. Part dedicated to Margaret Lanterman, which should mean Dougy is alive. Bosomy Woman (played by a man) was in the end credits and was very scary. Yi screaming at the end represented I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore! The good guys are pissed and ready for action. Let’s rock. Is Final Dossier going to be all these secondary character narratives like Dougie Milford? (Sean Glass)